Krems

Krems stands on the Danube beside the neighbouring town of Stein. Recorded in 995 as Cremisa, it became a centre of trade and administration, with vineyards on the surrounding slopes. Krems housed a Babenberg mint in the twelfth century, while Stein became a toll station. Though separate settlements, they shared town law and an administration; the oldest surviving written version of their law dates from 1305.

In 1421 the Jewish community of Krems was destroyed in the persecution ordered by Duke Albert V. The town later became a centre of the Reformation, supported by prosperous merchants and craftsmen, before the Counter-Reformation restored Catholic predominance. Swedish troops captured Krems in 1645 during the Thirty Years' War. Imperial forces retook it the following year, leaving half its houses damaged or destroyed. Near Stein in 1805, Austrian and Russian troops defeated a French force at Dürnstein.